“I don’t wish to be defined by gender or genitals. I am a pianist.”
— Katherine Vigneras
Having written novels focused on the emotional angst of young and middle aged adults, in the 1980s Madeleine L’Engle set off to write something a little different: A Severed Wasp, the novel of an elderly woman coming to terms with her life. Set mostly in New York City, but with multiple flashbacks to Europe, the novel also functions as a little mini reunion of L’Engle characters, featuring Suzy Austin from the Austin novels; Dave Davidson from The Young Unicorns, and Mimi Oppenheimer from A Winter’s Love. (Philippa Hunter from And Both Were Young also gets a mention.) It is a novel of human pain, and our reactions to it, and how we might be able to survive.
And, despite its focus on a Manhattan cathedral, it does not quite provide the answer you might expect from L’Engle.
[Nazis, castration, and gay sex in Manhattan. This is what happens when you marry someone working in soap operas, guys. Very spoilery post]